Taking the Heat!

Survival in the desert is a constant challenge for the variety of animals and plants that live there; to flourish in the desert requires the organism to withstand drought, extreme heat, and seasonal floods.  In the desert, for several months of the year, the temperatures may be exceedingly hot, exceeding what is called the range of thermoneutrality in which the animal can survive.   This heat, combined with the scarcity of life-sustaining water, makes for an extremely tenuous survival.  And yet, through adaptation to their environment, and the ability to avoid excess heat, flora and fauna are able to survive – and even flourish in this harsh environment.

What is your range of psychological thermoneutrality?  What are some of the environmental conditions (i.e., relationships, community, school, finances, commute) in your life and experience that have been the most difficult to overcome? When things heat up, do you struggle and fail - or adapt, cope and flourish? What adaptations have you made in the past to your circumstances that have helped you to not only survive but to flourish? Take some time and consider a stressful time, event or circumstance you have experienced that has challenged you.  What did you do to cope?  What did you learn? Would you do things differently now?  Contemplate your successful “adaptations” and remember them when your environment heats up.

Stress and Coping to Feel Better

Did you know that stress is the most common cause of ill health in our society? Some statistics suggest that up to 70% of all visits to your family doctor may be stress induced. 

The causes of stress are quite complex but typically they can be grouped in two ways:  external stress and internal stress.

External stressors may include loved ones getting sick or dying, losing your job or dealing with difficult people at work.

Most stress though, is generated internally! Since we create the majority of our emotional upheavals and upsets, we cause most of our own stress! The good news is that you can do something about it.

Having a sense of control over your interpretation and emotional response to any given situation, gives you a sense of choice and power that you can do something about the stressor.

And what is of key importance for you to know is that there is one very important concept regarding stress: To take control of the stress you are experiencing, you must decide to make some changes. You have to figure out what you are doing that is contributing to your problem and change it.

Here are some change strategies to help you to take control of your stress: 

Change stressful situations.
Do better at managing your time and your money. Get help if you need it.  Work on being assertive.  Find ways to solve your problem instead of stewing about it.  Consider leaving the job, responsibility or relationship.

Change your thinking.
Work at reframing your negative thinking into more positive thoughts.  Practice refuting negative thoughts that try to invade your sense of well-being.

Get Some Aerobic Exercise
As a way of draining off stress energy, nothing beats aerobic exercise.

Learn how to do relaxation exercises and/or meditate
Practice putting your body into a state of deep relaxation. Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard University has named this "the relaxation response."

Get a consistent good night’s sleep
Reduce your stress by getting a good night’s sleep. Studies show that a good night’s sleep helps with memory, weight loss and reduction of stress.

How to BEGIN to Think SMART and Feel BETTER

Many people think that when we feel bad and experience symptoms of depression or anxiety, then our feelings “make” us think negative and sad or angry thoughts. Actually, what we now know is that often, people who are experiencing depression or anxiety have the negative thoughts FIRST. These distorted, negative, pessimistic thoughts then begin to produce the ‘bad’ feelings; the feelings in turn produce more distorted thinking, making the symptoms even more difficult to overcome. The important thing to note here is that the distorted thoughts are usually ‘automatic’ in nature. This means that the person is probably not even aware of his or her automatic, distorted thoughts, but that these thoughts automatically enter the thinking patterns in a continual manner and across different situations in life.

Put more simply, your automatic thoughts and interpretations of a situation or circumstance can have a very big impact on how you feel. Psychologists have identified several negative thinking patterns that are common to people who struggle with feelings of anxiety and depression.

Three common types of negative thinking patterns are identified and described below. Review these and begin to identify which ones may be impacting how you feel.

1. Catastrophizing: When something happens, you blow it completely out of proportion and think of the worst possible outcome.

The boss told Jenny that the budget is tight and there would no longer be funds for hiring an intern. Mary thought, “This is awful. She probably wants to fire me and this is her way of prepping me for the bad news.”

2. Black or White Thinking: You view people or situations, or even yourself as entirely bad or entirely good—nothing in -between.

When Mark presented his proposal to his dissertation committee, they interrupted so many times with questions, he went over his allotted hour for the presentation. Mark immediately thought, “They didn’t like my ideas; I barely got to finish the presentation.”

3. Judging:  You are overly critical of your self or others; your use of should have, ought to, must, have to, and should not have is very frequent.

Jan made a sales presentation to a client. The client was very attentive and made comments about being impressed with the product. Jan thought, “I spent too much time trying to explain myself. I should have been more prepared.”

Remember to review these and begin to identify which ones may be impacting how you feel. Knowing how and why you feel bad is a first step to feeling better!